


A Gut Feeling

by legopenguin2



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Brown and Cyan are background characters, Gen, Human Impostor(s) (Among Us), POV First Person, POV Purple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27245680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legopenguin2/pseuds/legopenguin2
Summary: Who needs an impostor to kill you when you already have overwhelming terror killing you from inside out?Red’s presence should have made me feel safe, since I would have another pair of eyes around to look out for impostors, but instead, only one thought overwhelms me:Run, run,run.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	A Gut Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> FYI:  
> 1\. the medbay scan can detect impostors, human or not  
> -for human imposters, the scanner will identify that the person’s data does not match the original crewmate meant to be with that particular crew (they have to scan their ID first before getting the full body scan)  
> -for parasites turning crewmates into impostors, the scanner identifies their infection and hence would expose them  
> 2\. Human impostors usually actually do the task instead of faking them to avoid suspicion

(Purple’s POV)

Sometimes, I wonder why I ever signed up for this.

Before the crew I was in left on the Skeld for Polus, we went through safety briefings, warning us of human impostors (AKA a glorified name for hijackers) as well as parasites on Polus that could turn us into cannibals. Since they told us that such incidents rarely happened, I went for the mission anyway, thinking there was no way we would be unlucky enough to have any of that happen to us.

For the first month, life on the Skeld was uneventful. Most of the time, we stayed at our respective posts: Black, being the captain, was at navigations, and with them were Cyan and White. Green was at communications, Yellow at weapons, Blue, Red and I at admin and Brown and Orange at security. Of course, most of the crew did sometimes leave our posts to find other people to talk to.

Then things started going wrong.

Out of nowhere, parts of the ship would start malfunctioning, first starting with broken wires in electrical. Though that was easily fixed, it was now necessary for us to keep checking for weird random damages to the Skeld, and worst of all, this confirmed one thing:

There is at least one impostor on board.

***

“Wow, imagine being able to move away from your seat,” Yellow says sarcastically, smiling as she turns to me.

“I mean, your job is important, you know,” I reply. “If you don’t destroy the asteroids heading towards the Skeld we might actually die.” She laughs.

“That’s assuming we don’t die to the impostor.” I widen my eyes dramatically, hands to my chest.

“What? That danger _is_ out there.”

Like a jinx, Cyan dies on the same day.

A shot to the heart, a hole through the back of his suit, his body out cold for presumably hours before we came across it in electrical.

“Who… did this to him…?” White kneels by Cyan, his voice cracking. “H-how could you… _die_ on me like that? I… I loved you…” then White’s sobs fills the room as the rest of us stares sombrely at the scene before us. Brown kneels next to White, her cries quieter than White’s, but just as emotionally fuelled.

Yellow, instead of going to Cyan, turns to stare at the wall, muttering to herself, “This didn’t happen, this didn’t happen, Cyan’s still alive, he isn’t dead, he isn’t dead-” then hits the wall with her gloved hand, her head bowed low. I don’t know Cyan well, but seeing all of them so broken makes my chest tighten.

We were a whole team, and now…

One is gone. Forever.

“...we’ll rest for the week,” Black announces.

***

Obviously, things changed.

Black gives us walkie-talkies so we can report dead bodies at any time, and also assigns us partners to go with to do our tasks together to minimise the opportunities for an impostor to kill us off.

“It’s a bit inconvenient and probably gets thing done slower, but I want all of you to stay safe, alright?” says Black. “White, Yellow and Brown, you can still rest if you want to. I know how badly affected you are by his death, but if you want to go anywhere, make sure you go in twos.” They nod.

Now, White is a husk of his former self, no longer the happy-go-lucky, mischievous crewmate. Yellow’s sense of humour left with Cyan’s death, replaced by a ridiculous level of cynicism where every remotely odd action is “sus” to her. As for Brown… I don’t really know. I don’t talk to her much.

“Red, since you were always with Purple, I’ll pair you two up. Is that alright?” We nod as well.

Speaking of Red…

From the start, she was by my side, following me around as I completed various tasks: fixing wires, checking in at admin and things like that. At first, I didn’t think too much of it. _Maybe she’s just being nice._

Yet as time passed, I noticed how she almost never left me, save a few particular instances where she did, presumably to do her tasks and came back to me shortly after. During many of those instances, there would be something sabotaged—communications, reactor, the lights, even the oxygen in Skeld could be compromised.

I dismissed it as a coincidence.

More time passes, and just as I thought maybe I should start getting to know more about Red, **something** about her felt off.

 _Come on, you’re just being paranoid,_ I told myself, yet every little memory of how I thought Red might actually be suspicious reminded me otherwise; there’s no way I could have let go of that fear.

Since then, I would intentionally walk in weird zigzag patterns then sprint out of Red’s sight. Other times, I would get someone else who I trusted to tag along with us to do tasks. Maybe I was being silly, but people always say to listen to your gut feeling, right?

Unfortunately, today is not one of those days that I could conveniently get away from her; after all, I’m basically stuck with her unless I call an emergency meeting or tell Black I just randomly want to swap.

Red enters electrical right as I open the panel of wires, and I swear I must have jumped when Red greets me.

“Geez, why so scared?” Red teases. _Maybe because I’m a crewmate, unlike you?_

“But aren’t you too? We could die at any moment,” I reply instead. Red shrugs.

“That’s life,” she replies nonchalantly, then goes to download data, her tablet out.

Who needs an impostor to kill you when you already have overwhelming terror killing you from inside out?

Red’s presence should have made me feel safe, since I would have another pair of eyes around to look out for impostors, but instead, only one thought overwhelms me:

_Run, run, **run**. _

I nervously glance back at Red who is now sitting on top of the vent cover, knees close to her face. She just seems bored, or so I could tell from her body language.

Times like this, I wish we didn’t have our helmets on so I could read her facial expression better. _Maybe she’s plotting murder-_

 _Oh my God, stop it, brain! She has had every chance to murder you, and she didn’t! Why do you keep thinking like that?_ I sigh to myself as I turn back to the panel of wires, finally pulling out the pink one to its corresponding spot on the opposite end.

Red stands up.

“Where next?” she asks. Wordlessly, I exit electrical and as expected, she follows.

“Don’t you have your own tasks to do?” I question, still suspicious of Red.

“I mean, Black told us to stick together. Also, I already finished them.” _Huh, that’s fast._

_Weirdly fast…_

_Wow, here I go again, being the most paranoid idiot the world’s ever seen. Trust your fellow crewmates for once._

“I see,” I reply much too late.

Nothing else of significance happens for the rest of the day.

***

During our lunch break the next day, Black speaks up, “I know this is still a bit of a touchy topic but… who was last seen with Cyan?”

Silence.

Then Green clears his throat.

“It was Orange.”

“Huh?! Don’t go randomly accusing me like that! What proof do you have?!”

“By how much you’re overreacting, you’re already sus,” comments Yellow.

“I’m just asking for proof! How is that sus?!”

“I was at electrical calibrating the electrical distribution of the ship with Orange and Cyan and left after I was done. So since Cyan died there… it must have been Orange… right?”

“You’re such a big fat liar, Green!”

“If you don’t have anything else to say for yourself, then I’m voting that we eject you,” says Yellow.

“WHAT?!”

Black sighs. “Orange, how about you calm down and tell us if you have any other alibi that doesn’t associate you with Cyan’s disappearance?” Orange stays silent, and suddenly, the alarm blaring for oxygen depletion in the ship went off.

“What the hell? We’re having an important discussion here,” groans Yellow “Okay, that’s it. Orange is definitely sus.”

“What.”

“How about we go and fix O2 first?” Blue interrupts.

That is the only time since the meeting that Orange and Yellow agrees.

***

As soon as all of us gather back at the table, Yellow and Orange immediately start arguing.

“I am 100% sure it’s Orange. Vote him out.”

“LITERALLY WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that oxygen _just_ happened to be depleted when Black asked you to justify your innocence?”

“It was a coincidence!”

“A bit too timely, don’t you think?”

“STOP,” Black commands. To my surprise, both of them actually stop talking.

“Orange, give me one reason to trust you. Just one. If you can’t do that, for the safety of everyone else here, I will personally see to it that you are ejected.”

“I…” Orange starts drumming his fingers on the table, meeting none of our eyes. “I left before C-Cyan did.”

“Get out,” Black says coldly.

“What? W-why?”

Only now does White show some semblance of emotion—the most that I have seen since Cyan’s death as he mumbles, “Give him back.”

“Wh-” White grabs Orange by his suit from across the table.

“HOW COULD YOU KILL CYAN LIKE THAT? HE MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME! I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS-” Black pulls White away by his shoulder and then wraps their arms around him, stopping him from doing anything else to Orange. Orange looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“LET ME GO!”

“We’re already ejecting him, White. Please,” Black speaks quietly. White continues struggling against their hold.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SORRY FOR? IF YOU WERE TRULY SORRY THEN YOU WOULDN’T HAVE KILLED CYAN IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU… you… damned bastard…” White now completely slumps against Black, defeated. Black sighs.

“Do we all agree to eject Orange?” Everyone nods.

Together, we force Orange out of the air lock, leaving him to float in space.

That was the last we ever saw of him.

“Are we… safe now?” asks Yellow. All of us look to Black. For the first time, the confident, assuring aura around them isn’t present, and all I can see is a crewmate who is just as clueless and scared as the rest of us.

“I don’t know. I’ll… I’ll contact the HQ.”

***

Even with the tasks to occupy me, I still get bored occasionally, so I visit Yellow’s room, wanting to have someone to talk to.

She no longer lets me in.

“I can’t trust you… I can’t trust anyone in this cursed ship anymore. You understand that, don’t you?” she says from behind the door. I can’t stop my tears from running down my cheeks. We were friends since junior college, spending days and nights studying together to reach our dreams of becoming astronauts. We even joined the same company. Yet, she throws this friendship all away at the slightest sighting of an impostor on the ship?

 _I can’t believe this. How could she not trust me?_ Before my sadness has a chance to evolve to anger, an announcement blares through the intercoms,

“Everyone gather at comms. We have a new message from MIRA HQ.”

***

“…4, 5, 6, 7 aaand 8. Good, all of you are alive,” Black says cheerily, before playing the audio message sent from MIRA HQ. The personnel there suspected that 2 members of the crew that were meant to be with us were replaced by impostors from looking through the doorlog.

“Shit… there really is one more?” Yellow mutters. She is promptly shushed by Brown. The message then tells us that they are basically as clueless as us past that point because of a technical error that screwed with the colour identification.

“The hell? Not even the colours? This is ridiculous,” I complain. “Do they just want us to die?” Murmurs continue filling the room up until Black claps their hands to get our attention.

“Okay, so now we know there’s one other impostor on board. Is anyone suspicious to any of you?” I was about to speak up regarding my gut feeling about Red, but pause. _What if I’m wrong?_

“Red seems a little suspicious,” says Blue. “I never see her actually doing tasks.” _Wait, I wasn’t the only one?_

“Huh? I barely see **you** around!”

“The few times that I follow you and Purple are enough. All you do is tag along and do nothing.”

“No I don’t! Purple, tell them!” I remain silent. Before Red could say anything, Black asks her to prove her innocence, and she volunteers to help with power diversion since it’s on her list of tasks given today.

So here all of us are at electrical, watching her divert power to security. We continue following her to security as a group, Red somewhere in the middle, but chaos erupts.

“NO, BROWN!” yells Yellow. I turn, seeing Brown collapse in her arms. _Wait, how even…?_ White stares blankly at Yellow.

“How do I know it isn’t you?” White utters, voice bitter. “You’re the nearest to her.”

“Bullshit! _You’re_ nearer to her! And why the hell would I kill my girlfriend?” When Yellow removes her hand from the back of Brown’s neck, her gloved hand is covered with blood.

“…which one of you fuckers stabbed her?” No one responds.

“I saw White kill,” says Red. _No way. That can’t be it… right?_ Yellow stares daggers at White, and even though I am not in her line of sight, I can feel the disdain behind her glare.

“…whatever. Kick me out if you want. I’m already dead inside,” mumbles White. Black sighs, rubbing at their temple.

“Do you really have nothing to say for yourself?” White shakes his head.

“…raise your hand if you’re in favour of ejecting White.”

Yellow, Red, Green and White put their hands up, and White is ejected.

***

A week passes uneventfully; we are even free throughout and have little to no tasks to do. So I let my guard down, thinking White truly was the impostor.

I walk towards navigation to chart the course for today by myself, completely forgetting about the partnering rule that Black advised us to follow, and stop short. Before my very eyes, Red mercilessly shoots Green right in the chest, blood gushing in every direction as he fell to the floor, body completely limp. _Shit, I should have known, shit, shit, shit-_

I fumble through my suit for my walkie-talkie, completely clouded by a haze of panic, heart palpitating, only for Red to beat me to it, saying,

“I found Green dead...” Even with the dark visor obscuring my vision of her face, I just knew she must be smirking at me.

“You bastard.”

“We’ll meet at cafeteria,” replies Black.

***

“Who did it?” asks Black.

“IT’S RED! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES! I yell, tears prickling at my eyes. _Damn it, damn it, WHY can’t I trust my gut for once?! I could have prevented this, Green wouldn’t have needed to die, and-_

“You’re so bold. I clearly saw _you_ kill,” Red spits, disgust lacing her voice. My eyes scan over her suit, thinking I could prove her guilt (and my innocence) from some kind of imperfection, traces of blood, even. It was to no avail.

“…any other witnesses?” Black questions, and everyone shakes their head. It was a horrid reminder that just how many people died since we took off, and knowing that Red is definitely responsible for almost all of those deaths made me sick. _It’s my fault this ever happened, I want justice for his death, for everyone’s deaths-_

_Red is the last impostor on board._

_I have to make sure she gets kicked._

“You have to believe me, it was a self report!” I continue to yell desperately.

“You’re looking real sus now, you know,” accuses Yellow.

“As much as I want us to be safe, randomly kicking someone innocent isn’t going to do the trick. I think we should skip,” Black announces, and holy **hell** am I seeing red.

“I SWEAR TO GOD LISTEN TO ME! IT’S RED, THAT BITCH SHOT GREEN LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!”

“Take your vote. 3, 2, 1,” Black counts down calmly, and just barely, I make it out alive.

Yellow and Red vote to eject me, Black and Blue vote to skip, while I vote to eject Red.

***

As soon as the meeting ends, I bolt to medbay, doing a full body scan. _Come on, faster, damn it, what if Red comes to kill me-_

I nearly fall off the scanner when I hear footsteps.

“It’s just me,” says Blue. I sigh in relief, almost in time with the beep coming from the scanner signalling an all-clear.

“So… Red killed Green?” I nod. Blue clenches their fists.

“We should call an emergency meeting. I’ll vouch for you if Red accuses you again.”

“Thanks,” I reply, smiling. It was oddly liberating to know that I can finally trust someone freely on this damned spaceship for once, and know that they won’t ditch me at a moment’s notice.

Just as we were about to go to cafeteria, the alarms start blaring, announcing that there is a reactor meltdown.

“What the hell?!” I complain. Blue immediately runs towards the reactor, and I follow along so we can stabilise it together.

“Ugh, Red can go to hell for doing this,” I grumble as I put my hand on the scanner. Blue snorts as they do the same.

“I thought you already want Red to go to hell.”

“Lol, true.” We head for the cafeteria, only for the doors to both engines and security to shut.

“The fuck?” Blue mutters under their breath. “Is Red somehow stalking us? Or do ghosts actually exist and Orange is having fun trolling our asses?”

“Blue please I don’t wanna think about ghost impostors existing right now,” I talk rapidly. Blue shrugs.

“Just a thought, since the timing is really freakishly accurate.”

The door to lower engine opens, and right on the other side of it is Red.

_Wait. SHIT._

I’m rooted to the floor in terror, and it is Blue that forces me to run, grabbing me by my wrist and pulling me along as I continue staring at Red.

“Ahaha, you really think that will help you?” Red mocks, aiming her gun at Blue. My eyes widen.

“BLUE WATCH OUT-”

“Wha-” Their blue suit is now stained blood red as they clutch at their chest. “God… damn it…”

They collapse. Smoke rises from Red’s gun. _First Green, now Blue…_ Tears are stinging my eyes as I yell, enraged, “HOW DARE YOU, YOU FUCKING BITCH-”

“Blue is dead… let’s… meet at cafeteria,” she speaks into the walkie-talkie, a feigned sadness lacing her voice.

I have never been more disgusted in my life.

***

“I saw Purple kill again!” Red cries out.

“I did a whole ass scan in front of Blue, but nooo of course you had to kill them and pin it on _me_ ,” I scoff.

“No, you _definitely_ killed Blue.”

“I knew I was right to not trust you,” says Yellow. _Okay, bitch who ditched our years of friendship for this shit._

“But both you and Purple were with Blue, right?” asks Black. It was nice that they still tried defending me, but is there really a point? By majority vote, I am guaranteed to be kicked out of Skeld, unless Black, by some miracle, manages to convince Yellow.

“Nope, nope, no excuses. It’s Purple. We’re kicking her out,” asserts Yellow. Red nods enthusiastically. _Yellow, you’re a fucking idiot._

***

Black puts a pair of handcuffs on me and looks at me sympathetically, with eyes that seem to say “I didn’t want to do this. I’m sorry.” as we head for the airlock.

It is eerily quiet.

“Wait,” Red says, and everyone turns to her.

“I just… wanna say something before we push her out,” she continues. “I mean… she’s been my friend for so long.” _Haha, “friends”. Keep telling lies, impostor._ Black and Yellow let her. She walks up to me and I flinch reflexively. This close to her, I can see that behind the visor, she is without a doubt smirking as she whispers, “Don’t you know it’s better to go in groups?”

I get thrown off Skeld.

I vaguely wonder if this was how Orange and White felt physically when they were floating aimlessly in space, just like I am now, as oxygen slowly drains out of my suit.

I can’t breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit from 31/10/2020: it has been 3 days since I posted this and I have learned that I have to reread the fic infinitely to spot every error. h e l p


End file.
